Rebecca Lelli
American Education
23 September 2014
Personal Expertise Essay
I really do not consider myself an expert at anything, I feel that I am really more of a "jack of all trades, master of none" type of person. However, if I had to pick one I would say I favor reading over any of my skills. Reading has been a joy to me ever since I was two years old, demanding "read book" to my Nonna, and she patiently read to me for hours on end. Perhaps it's because I have such an active imagination that I like to read so much. I imagine what it would be like to live in different worlds and think what I would do in the situations that different characters face. Mostly I like to read fiction to pull myself out of whatever reality I am facing and dive into a world born of a creative author's mind. But occasionally I find non-fiction topics that interest me and I enjoy reading about that as well. Whatever the situation in my life, I have always considered myself to be a very good reader, though perhaps not an "expert" if such a thing exists.
Many teachers in my early schooling would count the number of books you read by putting a sticker next to your name for each one. If you read 25 books by the end of the year, you could go to the ice cream party. I made it my mission to read as many books as possible by the end of the year, not because of the ice cream but because I am very competitive and wanted my line of stickers to stretch farther than anyone else's. There has been a psychology debate that offering rewards for reading dulls the interest in reading, and maybe it did for some kids, but not me. I just kept wanting to read more and more, excited by the cover of each book to discover the story inside.
One summer I checked out about ten chapter books from the library, but I could not decide which one to read first. So I lined all the books up and read the first chapter from each one before moving to the second chapter of each one. Needless to say, I was seriously confused by the second round. I kept forgetting what each book was about, and thinking certain characters belonged to the wrong book. Having discovered I had been too ambitious, I returned to reading one book at a time, a little disappointed that I was incapable of handling ten.
Now this is not to say that I loved every book I read. In fact, many of the books I read I hated, especially the ones that teachers assigned us to read. If I had to read a chapter from I textbook that I found boring, I read ten times slower than I usually did and absorbed less of the content because I was falling asleep! And I never understood why English teachers had such a fascination with Edgar Allen Poe. A creepy guy who wrote about murder and dismemberment many years ago has absolutely no appeal to me whatsoever. I will admit, on occasion some teachers would have us read something that interested me, but it was so rare that it seemed to be almost a miracle whenever it actually occurred.
In order to get better at reading, I had to challenge myself. I read books with some words that I did not understand, but I discovered what they meant based on the sentences around them. Some historical fiction books in particular were hard to understand, because they made references to things that were no longer relevant in this day and age. But I actually enjoyed the process of figuring out what something new meant. The most difficult books were long novels written in many years past. For example, when I was twelve I struggled through Little Women, because I felt a lot of the scenes dragged on needlessly. However, if I were to read that book now I am sure it would be much less difficult because I have grown in my reading. I also like to help a little girl I babysit with reading because she struggles with it (being a math and science type personality). She does not enjoy reading the way I do, but I figure if I can make it easier, she will dislike it less.
Someday, I hope to be able to read from bland textbooks and still be able to extract meaning from them. I realize that I can always improve on patience and concentration, which will improve my reading. Perhaps I will incorporate my love of reading into a job someday. Even if people hate reading, they can always be read to. I do not know anyone who does not love a good story. I know that if I have expertise in anything, reading would be my most distinguished talent.
American Education
23 September 2014
Personal Expertise Essay
I really do not consider myself an expert at anything, I feel that I am really more of a "jack of all trades, master of none" type of person. However, if I had to pick one I would say I favor reading over any of my skills. Reading has been a joy to me ever since I was two years old, demanding "read book" to my Nonna, and she patiently read to me for hours on end. Perhaps it's because I have such an active imagination that I like to read so much. I imagine what it would be like to live in different worlds and think what I would do in the situations that different characters face. Mostly I like to read fiction to pull myself out of whatever reality I am facing and dive into a world born of a creative author's mind. But occasionally I find non-fiction topics that interest me and I enjoy reading about that as well. Whatever the situation in my life, I have always considered myself to be a very good reader, though perhaps not an "expert" if such a thing exists.
Many teachers in my early schooling would count the number of books you read by putting a sticker next to your name for each one. If you read 25 books by the end of the year, you could go to the ice cream party. I made it my mission to read as many books as possible by the end of the year, not because of the ice cream but because I am very competitive and wanted my line of stickers to stretch farther than anyone else's. There has been a psychology debate that offering rewards for reading dulls the interest in reading, and maybe it did for some kids, but not me. I just kept wanting to read more and more, excited by the cover of each book to discover the story inside.
One summer I checked out about ten chapter books from the library, but I could not decide which one to read first. So I lined all the books up and read the first chapter from each one before moving to the second chapter of each one. Needless to say, I was seriously confused by the second round. I kept forgetting what each book was about, and thinking certain characters belonged to the wrong book. Having discovered I had been too ambitious, I returned to reading one book at a time, a little disappointed that I was incapable of handling ten.
Now this is not to say that I loved every book I read. In fact, many of the books I read I hated, especially the ones that teachers assigned us to read. If I had to read a chapter from I textbook that I found boring, I read ten times slower than I usually did and absorbed less of the content because I was falling asleep! And I never understood why English teachers had such a fascination with Edgar Allen Poe. A creepy guy who wrote about murder and dismemberment many years ago has absolutely no appeal to me whatsoever. I will admit, on occasion some teachers would have us read something that interested me, but it was so rare that it seemed to be almost a miracle whenever it actually occurred.
In order to get better at reading, I had to challenge myself. I read books with some words that I did not understand, but I discovered what they meant based on the sentences around them. Some historical fiction books in particular were hard to understand, because they made references to things that were no longer relevant in this day and age. But I actually enjoyed the process of figuring out what something new meant. The most difficult books were long novels written in many years past. For example, when I was twelve I struggled through Little Women, because I felt a lot of the scenes dragged on needlessly. However, if I were to read that book now I am sure it would be much less difficult because I have grown in my reading. I also like to help a little girl I babysit with reading because she struggles with it (being a math and science type personality). She does not enjoy reading the way I do, but I figure if I can make it easier, she will dislike it less.
Someday, I hope to be able to read from bland textbooks and still be able to extract meaning from them. I realize that I can always improve on patience and concentration, which will improve my reading. Perhaps I will incorporate my love of reading into a job someday. Even if people hate reading, they can always be read to. I do not know anyone who does not love a good story. I know that if I have expertise in anything, reading would be my most distinguished talent.